Ethiopian planes dropped bombs and fired missiles on two locations in Somalia on Sunday, witnesses said, as fighting between Somali Islamists and their Ethiopian-allied rivals raged for a sixth day. There was no immediate word from Ethiopia, the Somali interim government or the Islamists. Resident Abdirashid Hassan said he saw planes drop bombs on the outskirts of Baladwayne, 190 miles (300 km) from the capital Mogadishu. "The Ethiopians have started bombing," he said by telephone. Another witness, businessman Farah Osman, said two Ethiopian planes fired missiles on the outskirts of Bandiradley, 435 miles (700 km) north of Mogadishu. If confirmed, the use of foreign attack aircraft would raise the stakes in the most sustained combat yet between the Ethiopia-backed interim government and Islamists, Reuters reported.
